Global organizations that transport data for others (i.e., “carriers”) face tremendous traffic growth. The carriers need to both serve those who use the carrier's services (i.e., “end users”) and to be profitable. End users include providers and consumers of over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content is data transported from a third party to an end user via a carrier. The carrier does not control the contents of the data being transported from the third party to the end user, and essentially only provides a “dumb pipe” to transport the data. In recent years, the new trend of delivering broadband audio, broadband video, VoIP, social networking, games, and ecommerce from the third parties to the end users (i.e., the OTT flood) pushes capacity limits of carriers' conventional data transport networks. Servicing this increase in demand exponentially increases the carriers' costs, while providing essentially no increase in revenue. Further, the carriers are competing with OTT data providers as providers of data, and do not want the position of the “dumb pipe.” From a business perspective, servicing OTT content using conventional methods and apparatus leads carriers to financial ruin.
There is a need to address the exploding traffic growth by converging the carriers' packet and optical networks, as well as simplifying these networks. The carriers also have to evolve their current processes (e.g., planning, inventory, provisioning, and maintenance) to take advantage of built-in intelligence in the control plane. There is also a need to manage colorless and/or directionless equipment (e.g., agile photonics) more flexibly than by using a conventional fixed add/drop system.
As depicted in FIG. 1A, a network 100 is conventionally viewed as topological connections between sites (e.g., sites 1, S4-S12). Wavelength services provided by the network 100 are viewed one at a time, as depicted in FIG. 1B. In FIG. 1B, an exemplary wavelength service 150 between S1 and S4 is depicted. The wavelength service 150 is routed 155 through sites S1, S2, S3, and S4, as shown. The properties of the wavelength service 150 are usually shown as a row in a table 160, as depicted in FIG. 1C.
In the example depicted in FIG. 1D, a conventional, limited form of visualization 170 is provided to assist wavelength defragmentation efforts. In FIG. 1D, the x-axis presents a subset of network topology and y-axis represents the optical spectrum. Conventionally, there is no way to view an entire network having a meshed architecture.
Conventional defragmentation might move the services 180 as shown in FIG. 1E. But, in using the technique of FIG. 1E, there is no indication of why these particular services should be the ones that are moved.
Unfortunately, existing service routes are difficult to remap with traditional methods, leaving sub-optimal routed paths. Moreover, constantly provisioning and de-provisioning routes while a network is in use leads to wavelength fragmentation. In carrier networks, with different wavelength services provisioned, it is difficult to determine how and where a specific wavelength service is used and also which wavelengths are available for potential services. This can lead to lost revenue when data cannot be transported because of wavelength fragmentation.
Moreover, conventional techniques do not visually present wavelength usage (e.g., a status of all of the available wavelengths on all paths) in a convenient manner. Conventional techniques also do not proactively monetize fragmented wavelengths, do not provide a way to determine which wavelength to defragment, and do not determine a best time to defragment.
Carriers have a need to improve utilization of existing network assets across both packet and optical transport layers. There is a need for an efficient way to perform analytics on the carriers' planned and existing network, to plan how best to use these networks, and to optimize the return on investment in these networks.
Accordingly, there are long-felt industry needs for methods and apparatus that improve upon conventional methods and apparatus, including a method and apparatus for monetizing a carrier network.